


pyrrhic

by Mayarene Rose (Paradise_of_Mary_Jane)



Series: Whumptober 2019 [27]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Combat, Gen, Hurt No Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-04 10:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21195815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradise_of_Mary_Jane/pseuds/Mayarene%20Rose
Summary: “I win.”Dick is pinning Bruce to the ground. The two of them are breathing hard. Dick won. Dick beat him. It was a fair fight. Bruce didn’t even try to cheat. Dick beat him, fair and square.There’s no such thing as a fair fight.





	pyrrhic

**Author's Note:**

> Day 28: Beaten
> 
> Inspired by that scene before Dick goes undercover at Spyral. Again, I am too lazy to actually reread it. I am so sorry.

“I win.”

Dick is pinning Bruce to the ground. The two of them are breathing hard. Dick won. Dick beat him. It was a fair fight. Bruce didn’t even try to cheat. Dick beat him, fair and square.

_There’s no such thing as a fair fight._

It doesn’t feel like a win. Maybe there’s no such thing as winning in a fight, either. That’s what Bruce always said: don’t fight to win, fight to survive. Only surviving and well. Dick’s already died. He shouldn’t be alive, but somehow he is. It’s hard to win anything after that. 

He gets up abruptly, movements stilted and jerky. He needs to get out of there, needs to get away. His blood sings to him, telling him to run, telling him he shouldn’t stay in a place like this. For a fraction of a second, he was dead and then he wasn’t.

Dick’s heart is pounding in his chest and it makes him panic.

“Let me go,” Dick says.

Bruce looks at him. He gets up. His movements are slow and deliberate. Dick knows that’s him when he’s being careful, but he can’t help but feel like he’s being hunted. Bruce’s eyes are sad and regretful.

Dick can’t escape them.

“Let me go,” Dick says. “Please.”

“I need you to do this,” Bruce says softly. He’ll never force Dick. Contrary to popular belief, that’s not actually something he does. Dick broke free, whenever he tried. And he doesn’t. He doesn’t force Dick to do anything.

He just asks in a way Dick can’t say no to.

That’s the way they work. Bruce asks. Dick does what he’s told because it’s the right thing. Over and over; an endless cycle going on and on. Everyone wins. Batman has a Robin or Nightwing or whoever he needs and the world has a new hero.

Everyone wins except for the fact that Dick seems to be the only one who loses.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm acediscowlng on tumblr :D


End file.
